The Self and the Other, or Christian Knights and Pagan Lithuanians in the Chronicles of the Teutonic Order from the fourteenth century

ENThe article is devoted to the representation of Christian knights of the Teutonic Order and pagan Lithuanians as the Self and the Other in the chronicles of the Teutonic Order from the 14th century. The primary criteria for evaluating the Self and the Other (faith, belief, actions) and the terms used to identify the pagan Lithuanians as the Other are studied. The characteristic features of the Christians and the pagans described in the Teutonic chronicles are examined. In this way, the author attempts to analyse the methodological approaches used by the chroniclers to portray and emphasise the otherness of the Lithuanians as a way to explain and justify the Crusade of the Teutonic Order in this region. The author claims that in order to achieve this goal, the narrators not only used specific and often metaphorical terms and characteristics to distinguish the pagans, but also put emphasis on their negative traits and described cruel rituals that could hardly be accepted by the Christian Church, listed all destructive deeds and crimes committed by the Lithuanians in the Christian lands during their attacks. Since religion was the main regulating force of a society in the medieval era, it was God who was supposed to correct the lifestyle of the pagans or punish them for their crimes, if not with his own hands, then with the help of real people acting on his behalf. Therefore, the depiction of divine retribution or God`s punishment was one more effective method to represent the otherness of the pagan Lithuanians in comparison with the Christian knights of the Teutonic Order. Keywords: Lithuania, the Teutonic Order, the Baltic Crusade, Christians, pagans, the Self, the Other.